Re: [GrizHFMinimill] Scraping update
The thickness of the carbide seems to depend on which scraper you get. It even may not be consistent, depending on what they have on hand, but I measured .144" for both my 1/2" and 3/8" scrapers. Oddly enough, the 3/4" scraper uses thinner carbide. That's why I am warning you on potential variability.
For now I'm making do with the 3/4" scraper as-is. It seems sharp enough to work alright that way, but I have started on a handle, using a 1" wood dowel. I sawed it in half, am planning on cutting a slot in the flat side of the "D" to fit the scraper, then I'll drill a couple of holes in the scraper to fix it in place. It won't look pretty but -- hopefully -- will allow me to get some extra power into the scraping stroke. The smaller scrapers will be for detail work so I'm not planning on any handles for them. Not at this point anyway.
The overall thickness of handle and carbide makes for a somewhat "clunky" scraper, but seems to work OK for flat stuff. It should be possible to grind or file off some of the metal off the back for doing things like dovetails....I hope. If not, I will likely try my hand at brazing a smaller piece of carbide on to a holder. Along with the diamond lapping disks, I got a low-speed diamond saw blade (also for lapidary work). It will cut carbide just fine, the main thing is to keep the saw from binding up & tearing the piece out of the holder.
Hmm, I just realized that with the right holder I could probably thin one of my scrapers without having to make my own. Too bad my mill is in pieces waiting to be scraped -- but I do happen to have a low-speed diamond saw at work that will probably work!
Mark
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Posted by: mark.kimball2@frontier.com
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